Highway 63 revisited: Suncor upgrades Alberta road

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc will spend
C$55 million ($54 million) building an interchange on the busy
highway that runs through Alberta's oil sands region to link
its current mining and upgrading operation to a new plant, it
said on Tuesday.

When it is complete, Suncor will transfer ownership of the
on- and off-ramps, located on Highway 63, 25 km (16 miles)
north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, to the province, it said.

The project is also aimed at bolstering highway safety as
Suncor builds a new oil sands upgrader, part of its C$20.6
billion Voyageur expansion project.

The road has become notoriously congested with commuters
competing with trucks moving huge pieces of equipment as
companies invest billions of dollars developing the vast oil
sands, which represent the largest petroleum reserves outside
the Middle East.

With the Voyageur expansion, the company aims to produce
550,000 barrels a day from its oil sands operations by 2012, up
from an expected 350,000 at the end of this year.